Primark put on naughty step by teacher over 'sexist' clothing line

Teacher and author Kate Long has slammed retailer Primark over what she calls “sexist” clothing that tells boys to be more assertive but encourages girls to be “humble”, “always perfect” and “grateful”.

During her visit to the Chester branch of Primark, Kate Long saw messages on boys clothing which read “Change the game. Rewrite the rules. Go for it. Born to win.”

Messages written on girls’ clothing she said, included “Be kind”, “Kindness always wins”, “Grateful, humble and optimistic” and “Be good, do good”.

Asking her thousands of Twitter followers if they could “spot a difference in tone”, the author of eight novels suggested the difference in tone was something akin to the 1950s.

“Boys are about doing and girls are about feeling. Boys take what they want; girls consider others. The message to little girls is to be compliant and passive. Always think of others. Put on a pleasant, smiling face, for that is your job in the world”, she said.

Primark is no stranger to similar controversies with a 2018 scandal occurring when a shopper complained that male changing rooms were labelled “Men’s” and female changing rooms labelled “girls”.

Teacher Claire Griffiths made the complaints in 2018 saying “I know it’s only words but it’s semantically incorrect.”

Strap in for a thread about the hugely sexist messaging on children's clothing at @Primark. The store I popped into was in Chester but of course it's a nationwide chain.

Let's begin with the messages girls are being hammered with. pic.twitter.com/nH4muQvFds

— Kate Long (@volewriter) February 6, 2022